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Virat Kohli had one notable innings during the Australia tour as he was repeatedly dismissed chasing outside off-stump deliveries.
Virat Kohli scored 190 runs in 9 innings at 23.75. (AP Photo)
Virat Kohli’s struggles during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy were a grim reminder of his forgettable England Test tour of 2014 when in 10 innings, he mustered 134 runs at 13.40. Kohli ended India’s tour of Australia with 190 runs from nine innings that included a century as he was repeatedly caught behind the stumps while chasing deliveries bowled outside off-stump.
India spin legend Harbhajan Singh has expressed shock at Kohli’s numbers in Test cricket in the past five years, claiming a youngster will be able to match the batting superstar.
Between 2020 and 2025, Kohli has scored 2028 runs in 36 Tests at an average of 30.72 including three centuries.
“Virat has played 11 Tests in 2024 and scored 440 runs. The average is 23.15, with one hundred and one fifty. Such an average may be unheard of because he is a very big name, has scored heavily for India,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
“This stat (2028 runs between 2020 and 2025) is obviously very low. When I saw it, it was a shocking stat for me too. If you give a youngster an opportunity, I feel he will also be able to do this much (match the stats of Kohli),” he added.
India lost the five-match Test series 1-3 as Australia regained the BGT for the first time since 2015-16. India also failed to qualify for the final of the ICC World Test Championship for the first time.
Harbhajan, who took 417 wickets from 103 Tests, said he’s not asking Kohli to be dropped but wants the senior India players to take part in some form of cricket before the team’s next Test assignment which is a five-match series in England later this year.
“I don’t mean to say that Kohli should be dropped but is should be ensured that whenever you take senior players for the tour, they must play some cricket whether county cricket or something before England tour,” the 44-year-old said.
“This will be a challenge for the selectors, but it’s time for selectors to wake up and take some action. I don’t say that any player be dropped, and unnecessarily start chopping and dropping but at least there should be a procedure as to who will get how many chances and for how long, because in India there is a long queue of talents,” he added.
